Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/645

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

SANTIAGO SANTIAGO DE LOS OABALLEROS 621 in 1858, contiguous to the old church of the Jesuits, destroyed by fire Dec. 8, 1863, when 1,600 persons, chiefly women, perished in the flames. The hill of Santa Lucia rises in the centre of the city to a height of 254 ft., and on its N. and S. flanks stand two fortresses. The theatre ranks among the finest in Amer- ica. The city has a powder magazine, a vast artillery barrack, a penitentiary, a house of correction for children, a military and two fine general hospitals, an insane asylum, a house of refuge, and many other benevolent institu- tions. The educational establishments include the academy of science, the university or na- tional institute with 1,200 students, a military academy, schools of design, a school of agri- culture with a model farm, two normal schools, the seminario conciliar, and about 40 primary and grammar schools, public and private, the former being gratuitous. The national library contains 40,000 volumes and many rare manu- scripts. The mean temperature is 68 F. in summer and 49 in winter, when rains are fre- quent and heavy. Santiago is the commercial centre for the province. There are tanneries, flour mills, silver refineries, three banks, and a fire insurance and a life insurance company. The city is connected by telegraph with the principal ports of the republic, and by rail with Valparaiso and Talca ; and a transandine rail- way to Buenos Ayres was projected in 1874. Santiago was founded in 1541 by Pedro de Valdivia, under the name of Santiago del Nuevo Extreme, and erected into a bishopric in 1561. It was visited by disastrous earth- quakes in 1570, 1647, 1657, 1688, 1730, 1751, and 1822, and has frequently suffered from inundations. An international exhibition was opened here on Sept. 16, 1875. SANTIAGO, or Santiago del Estero, a central province of the Argentine Republic, bordering on Santa Fe, Cordova, Catamarca, Tucuman, Salta, and the Gran Chaco ; area, 35,000 sq. m. ; pop. in 1869, 132,763. The face of the coun- try, somewhat mountainous in the west, con- sists mainly of an undulating plain, sloping to- ward the southeast. The province is watered by theDulce, Salado, and many smaller streams, which are dried up during the summer. There are many lagoons and lakes, mostly salt, the chief of which is the Laguna de los Porongos on the southern border, fed by the waters of the Dulce. The climate is hot, but not insalu- brious ; and the soil is fertile, much of the land being devoted to pasturage. The chief productions are wheat, maize, the sugar cane, and fruits. There are large forests. The most important manufactures are those of ponchos and other articles of wool, with laces, some of which are not inferior to the finest imported from Europe. Carbonate and nitrate of soda and carbonate of potash from the salines are exported. Of 33,375 children from 6 to 14 years of age in 1869, 3,684 attended school. The province is divided into 18 departments. The capital is the city of the same name, with 7,775 inhabitants in 1869, founded about the middle of the 16th century. SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (Lat. Campus Stella), a city of Galicia, Spain, in the prov- ince and 32 m. S. by W. of the city of Co- runna; pop. about 29,000. It is surrounded by hills, and has broad paved streets and well built houses. It is the seat of an archbishop. In the cathedral, founded in 1082, the body of St. James the Elder is popularly believed .to be buried, and formerly there were frequent pilgrimages to the shrine. The city has a university with about 1,000 students, a public library, a hospital, and a mint. It was sacked in 997 by the Moors, from whom Ferdinand III. took it in 1235, and in 1809-'14 it was held by the French. SANTIAGO DE CUBA (locally called CUBA), a city of Cuba, capital of the Eastern depart- ment, and of a province of its own name, at the head of a fine bayou on the S. E. coast, 160 m. S. E. of Puerto Principe ; lat. 19 53' N., Ion. 75 53' W.; pop. about 45,000, of whom not more than 10,000 are whites. It is on the side of a hill 160 ft. above the bay. The streets are bad and many of them very steep, but all lighted with gas and lined with stone houses. The cathedral, completed in 1819, is the largest on the island, and there are several other churches, a theatre, a custom house, barracks, and three hospitals. The city is supplied with bad water through an aque- duct, and as it is shut in from the northern breezes, the suffocating heat and the miasmatic effluvia from adjacent marshes render it the most unhealthful abode in the Antilles. The harbor, although one of the best in America, is difficult of access, owing to the narrowness of the entrance. It is defended by four forts. W. of the city, 12 m. distant, are the exten- sive copper mines of El Cobre, which export annually more than 25,000 tons. The other exports are coffee, sugar, and molasses. San- tiago, founded by Diego Velasquez in 1514, is after Baracoa the oldest town in Cuba. In 1522 it was incorporated as a city, and for a time was the capital of the island. In 1558 it was seized by the French, who surrendered it for a ransom of $80,000; and in the same century it suffered much from pirates. In No- vember, 1873, the captain (Fry) and several of the crew and passengers of the ship Virgin- ius were shot by order of the Cuban authori- ties at Santiago. This vessel, sailing under the United States flag, had been captured by the Spanish steamer Tornado off Jamaica, on the ground that it intended to land men and arms in Cuba for the insurgents. The affair created great excitement in the United States, but was settled by the payment of indemnities by Spain. SANTIAGO DE LOS CABALLEROS, a city of San- to Domingo, capital of a province of the same name, on the right bank of the Yaqui river, in a savanna nearly surrounded by mountains, 20 m. S. of Puerto Plata ; pop. about 8,000. It is built around a large plaza, in which is held the